Published data resources

Purpose: Students may not have time in lessons to obtain sufficient data to give them the ‘big picture’ of their chosen context. This is often the case in ecological or pollution investigations where they can only sample a ‘snap shot’ of the situation. Providing access to a published database of results can provide a richer learning experience for students as they can place their findings in a wider context.

Teaching approach: Identify a suitable data base for the topic being studied, to check that the measurements available will be suitable for comparison with the class investigation results. Once the class has collated and processed their own data, individual students could make comparisons with the online data base, or relevant pages of information could be made available to students by the teacher for comparisons and help in formulating conclusions.

Preparation: A web search on the topic being studied should provide access to suitable data such as UK-Air, the Defra site when studying air pollution. Check the data for relevance (time and location) and also for ease of comprehension by students. Raw data may be presented on some websites using unfamiliar units, making the data unusable.

As an example of the types of data available, links are provided to a website that would be a useful support for bird table studies, or investigating feeding patterns. The British Trust for Ornithology site provides population trend data for different species and locations:

• https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/bbs/latest-results/trend-graphs

• The same site is a rich data source about individual species

• https://app.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob16360.htm

• and detailed information on changes in population and distribution for individual species

• https://blx1.bto.org/birdtrends/species.jsp?year=2016&s=bluti